Vince Gill Talks About Willie, Growing Older, Getting Better

Wednesday

Jan 23, 2013 at 5:44 PM

By MATT REINSTETLETHE LEDGER

For some people, the strikeouts tend to come to mind more than the home runs.When country music star Vince Gill looks back at his career, a negative review or the oddities are more vivid than selling out shows and winning awards. The country singer, performing in Lakeland this week, remembers his early days and the odd places he's performed, such as a college show in the early 1980s that booked him during the school's spring break. He still performed, but there were only five people in the crowd. He says you never forget the bowling alleys and bars you play at. One in particular happened to be a gay bar in Los Angeles that was offering $50 a night.“I love playing music, and I needed the 50 bucks,” Gill said. “My memory of that is their favorite song was always ‘Stand by Your Man,' and we played it eight times a night.”One Incredible Evening with Vince Gill will take place Friday at the Youkey Theatre in The Lakeland Center. Gill, 55, has had a decorated career, selling millions of albums and collecting award statues along the way. “I'm getting to the age where I'm playing what I can remember,” Gill said laughing. “I don't know, I've never really been much of a planner and I know that drives some people crazy but it works for me. So I'm never going to show up and not do songs that people want to come out and hear. That's always going to be a staple of any show that I do.”Gill said he plans to play a mix of his classics and the new songs he's working on while in Lakeland.“If you come down there and don't do the things that made people show up in the first place, you're really missing the boat,” Gill said. “So it's just striking a balance of playing some things that are familiar then saying, ‘Hey, check this out. This is new. What do you think?'”For Gill, his goal is to stay busy musically in 2013.“I like a full plate, and I like all kinds of music,” Gill said during a phone interview from his home in Nashville, Tenn. “I just like being creative as much as possible. If I'm staying creative, then things don't get stagnant. “You can keep your brain turned on, and I love that feeling.”Since the late 1970s, Gill has played both as a solo act and as part of a band. In the 1980s, Gill had a string of hits, including “If It Weren't For Him,” “Oklahoma Borderline” and “Cinderella;” but it was his 1989 album, “When I Call Your Name,” that put him on top of the charts. The title song reached No. 2 and earned him a Country Music Association Award for Single of the Year and a Grammy Award for Best Male Country Vocal Performance.During his career, Gill has won 20 Grammys, 18 CMA Awards and was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2007.Gill said one of his inspirations as he's gotten older is fellow country music great Willie Nelson. “I've watched him at the age where you think you would probably start slowing down, he's done the exact opposite,” he said. “I'm starting to get the feeling like I've only got so many good years left and I really want to make as much of a statement as I can. “I feel like I still have my voice in great shape and my hands still work, and my mind is somewhat normal (laughing). I better take advantage of it, you know.”When he's not performing solo, he performs with the Time Jumpers, an 11-piece band of highly regarded country musicians. Gill said his goal for the future has always been to get better as a musician. “I got some great advice as a young kid. Someone told me don't be the best musician in a band, you'll never learn anything, he said. So I always took that to heart and always tried to surround myself with people who I really thought were better than me and I still do that. My band that I travel on tour with is better musicians than I'll ever be and same with playing in a group like the Time Jumpers, I'm learning. “I get to 50 and I'm still in a band where I'm learning something and I'm 55 years old, that's fun.”

Matt Reinstetle can be reached at matt.reinstetle@theledger.com or 802-7533. Follow Matt on Twitter @LedgerMatt.